Apparatus for sizing and grading articles



April 14, 1970 J. F. lLLUZZl APPARATUS FOR SIZING AND GRADING ARTICLES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 8, 19 g 5. m\/ J m/ im- I A P .I n m u L 35 g1 .I .I I HIHHW I H H I I l I I I l I l I I I l I I I I I I I I I III. II h n\ A \w INVENTOR By JOSEPH F ILL UZZ/ @AWU. we?

ATTORNEY J. F. lLLUZZl APPARATUS FOR SIZING AND GRADING ARTICLES April 14, 1970 Filed July 8, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 4

INVENTOR By JOSEPH F. /LLUZZ/ AWL flfi A TTORNEV United States Patent O 3,506,118 APPARATUS FOR SIZING AND GRADING ARTICLES Joseph F. Illuzzi, 109 Highland Ave., Edison Township,

Middlesex County,.N.J. 08817 Filed July 8, 1968, Ser. No. 743,143 Int. Cl. B07b 13/04 U.S. Cl. 209-75 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Sorting equipment is disclosed for sorting medicine tablets as to their thickness as well as their circumference. The equipment comprises a plurality of substantially parallel rails each of which has a sloped surface and pairs of these surfaces form a groove for sorting oversize tablets as to thickness. Rods are imbedded into facing side surfaces of each rail forming an inclined runway for sorting tablets undersize in thickness which fall between the rails. Upper and lower sorting plates are mounted below each of the runways to selectively sort tablets according to circumference which tablets are propelled downwardly by the runway and are caught on the plates.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention pertains to equipment for continuously sorting tablets, or similarly shaped articles, both as to their thickness and circumference.

Sorting machines employing vibratory gauging elements are well known in the art, and one exemplary form of such a machine comprises a pair of downwardly inclined gauging rails along which unsorted articles are propelled. The rails have a tapered space therebetween and the articles roll along the rails and fall through at a point 'where the gauging space is sufficient to permit downward passage. A plurality of containers are normally positioned adjacent to one another below the rails to receive the falling articles so that they may be collected in containers in accordance with their size for subsequent packaging.

The prior art machines have proven to be satisfactory for sorting articles such as ball bearings and the like. However, none of the machines have proven to be suitable for sorting articles such as medical pills, or tablets, which must be sorted as to thickness as well as circumference for maintaining the overall volume of the sorted pills within close prescribed tolerances. Sorting precision is a paramount consideration in pill production in order to keep the dosage of the medicine compressed into a tablet shape within predictable limits.

In addition to the foregoing drawback, the prior art machines which are capable of simultaneously sorting articles in more than one dimension are unable to dispel automatically the unwanted, or rejected, articles in an eflicient manner to prevent clogging the sorting machine. Clogging is an undesirable effect which necessitates that the sorting operation be constantly attended and periodically shut down to remove rejected articles.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The foregoing disadvantages are overcome in accordance with a specific illustrative embodiment of the invention in which a unitary vibratory sorting assembly is provided comprising a plurality of elongate spaced rails having angled top surfaces for selectively sorting pills being oversize as to their thickness. Pills undersize in thickness are selectively sorted by an inclined runway formed by a pair of rods embedded in the vertical sides of each rail and positioned below the angled surice faces. Directly below the rails and situated so as to furnish third and fourth stages of sorting are upper and lower sorting plates, respectively; the upper plate contains a plurality of holes through which pills less than a prescribed circumference pass, thereby eliminating pills which are oversize in circumference by retaining them on the plate. The lower sorting plate is situated below the upper sorting plate to catch those pills passing through the holes in the upper plate. The lower plate contains a plurality of holes smaller in diameter than the holes in the upper plate for screening and rejecting pills having less than a prescribed circumference.

Unsorted pills are dropped from a hopper onto the angled surfaces of the rails which serve to position the pill; i.e., on its end, for the initial thickness sorting action. Pills oversize in thickness are propelled along the angled surfaces and deposited at the far end of the assembly. All other pills fall through a slotted opening in the bottom of the angled surfaces between the rails and onto the pair of rods forming the runway. Pills which are, undersize as to thickness pass through the rods and are rejected. Pills retained on the runway formed by the rods roll downwardly and drop onto the upper sorting plate and through the holes in the latter plate if they are less than a prescribed circumference. The rejected pills are retained on the upper plate and moved along the plate by a vibratory motion of the entire assembly and ejected at the far end of the assembly. The good pills which are retained on the lower sorting plate are moved also by the vibratory motion and collected as they are discharged at the far end of the assembly.

It is a salient aspect of the invention that in addition to furnishing an assembly for sorting pills, and the like, as to their thickness and circumference, that the assembly selectively dispels the unwanted pills and also prevents clogging of the sorting action. This advantageously allows the sorting assembly to be continuously operated and eliminates the necessity for providing an observer to insure that the sorting action is unimpeded.

It is also an object of the invention to furnish a unitary assembly which combines a pill sorter and de-duster respectively for sorting pills as to their thickness as well as for removing burrs and other imperfections from the pills.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of this invention will be more clearly understood from a reading of the following description of an illustrative embodiment with reference to the drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a top view of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the exemplary embodiment of the invention showing the relative positions of sorting stages;

FIG. 3 is an end view of the illustrative embodiment of the invention taken along section 33 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is an illustrative embodiment of the combined sorter and de-duster.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring now to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the vibratory sorting apparatus of the present invention is shown as including a plurality of elongated rails 1, 2, 3 through It mounted parallel to one another and separated a prescribed distance by circular spacers 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. The top of each rail has two angled surfaces, such as for example, surfaces 10 and 11 of rail 1. The latter surfaces are best viewed in FIG. 3. For convenience in disclosing the invention, reference will be made to sur- 3 faces and 11 of rail 1 and to surface 12 of rail 2. It will, however, be appreciated that such references pertain as well to the unnumbered angled surfaces of rails 2, 3 through n. Furthermore, the designation :1 is used to indicate the last or end rail of a plurality of rails.

Pairs of rail surfaces on adjacent rails 1, 2, 3 through 12 form a V-shaped groove for positioning a pill to be sorted and for sorting pills which are oversize in thickness. Such a Vshaped groove is defined for example by surfaces 11 and 12 of respective rails 1 and 2. Sorting of the oversized pills is accomplished by retaining such pills having a thickness greater than width Y as shown in FIG. 1 between surfaces 11 and 12. The oversizcd pills are propelled along the V-shaped grooves and rejected to the left-hand side of FIG. 2. It is noted that the sorting assembly can be employed to sort substantially round pills such as an aspirin tablet or tablets having an oval shape. For convenience in this illustrative embodiment it is assumed that good pills have substantially round shapes.

Directly belew the slot in the V-shaped grooves, rods are partly embedded into the vertical sides of each of rails 1, 2, 3 through it. With respect to FIG. 3 and to rails 1 and 2 for example, these rods are designated as rods 13 and 14. The positioning of these rods with respect to the rail may be determined by viewing rod 13 shown in FIG. 2 which is exemplary of the positioning of the remaining rods in rails 2, 3 through It and demonstrates the downward inclination of the rods. Rods on facing side surfaces such as rods 13 and 14 form an inclined runway upon which a pill falling through the space between angled surfaces 11 and 12, for example, is retained. Thus in a like manner runways are formed below each of the V-shaped grooves for retaining pills falling through the slotted space between rails 2, 3 through n.

The spacing between rods 13 and 14 and other similarly positioned rods is precise and it represents the minimum allowable thickness of a pill. This space is designated in FIG. 3 as distance x. Pills having less than this minimum thickness are not retained on the inclined runway but instead fall through the rods, through slots 70 and 71 respectively, in plates 15 and 18 and are deposited to right-hand side of FIG. 2.

A plurality of upper sorting plates 15, 16 and 17 are situated below the inclined runways and between rails 1, 2, 3 through n. Each one of plates 15, 16 and 17 contains a plurality of nearly contiguous holes all of the same circumference and arranged as shown, for example, in plates 15 and 16 in the fragmentary view of FIG. 1. Each upper plate is positioned below and between a pair of the rails 1, 2, 3 through n and as well below the inclined runway as shown in FIG. 1 to catch the pills rolling down the incline. Referring specifically to FIG. 3, the bottom of each rail 1 through 11 is notched as shown by surfaces 21 and 22 of rails 1 and 2, for example, to allow sufficient clearance for the pills to rest on their sides on the upper sorting plate 15. This has proven .in practice to be the best mode of positioning pills for movement along the plates for the sorting operation. The circumference of each of the holes in the upper plates 15, 16 and 17 is identical and represents the maximum allowable circumference of a pill. It is noted that a plurality of sorting plates 15, 1 6, and 17 are shown, however, a single plate can be substituted therefor without departing significantly from the spirit of the invention.

Positioned directly below plates 15, 16 and 17 are the lower sorting plates 18, 19 and 20. As may be seen in FIG. 1 in the fragmentary view depicting lower plates 18 and 19, these plates are similar to upper plates 15, 16 and 17. Plates 18, 19 and 20 also contain a plurality of holes whose circumference is less than that of the holes in the upper plates and represents the minimum allowable circumference of a good pill. Pills which fall through the holes in plates 15, 16 and 17 fall upon plates 18, 19 and 20. If the pills are undersize in circumference they 4 fall through the holes in plates 18, 19- and 20 and are rejected. I v

The sorting assembly is held together by vertical threadedrods, such as rods 23, 24, 25 and 26 and by horizontal threaded 'rods 27 and 28. The method chosen to assemble the invention is specifically selected so that sorting sections, each of which comprise a rail, an upper and lower sorting plate and appropriate hardware such as members 30, 31, 32 or 33, can be facilely changed or new ones added. The entire assembly is held fast by nuts aflixed to the ends of the horizontal and vertical threaded rods 23 through 28 as shown in FIG. 3.

It is intended that the assembly be affixed to a vibratory machine, not shown, which supplies the vibratory motion necessary in the sorting operation. The particular machinefor generating such motion is not a part of the inventive concept of the invention, and many suitable machines for imparting vibratory motion are commercially available. With reference to FIG. 2, in normal operation it is desirous to raise the right-hand side of the assembly above the left-hand side of the assembly so that the pills are more easily propelled through the assembly.

It is to be noted that alternatively an upper rail and a lower member, such as rail 1 and member 30, of a sorting section can be constructed as one piece, for we ample, forming a U-shaped section. Between the legs of the U-shaped section the upper sorting plate can be suspended and secured in.this position by bein partially embedded into the section. Advantageously, such one piece unitary construction is more efiicient for uniform transmission of vibratory motion to the whole assembly.

A description is now presented of the sorting action of the assembly, for example, through the sorting sections including rails 1 and 2. It is to be kept in mind that the assembly is inclined and vibrated as described hereinbefore during the sorting operations. As shown in FIG. 2, the unsorted pills are fed onto the V-groove surfaces of the raiis 1, 2, 3 through n via a hopper 40. Pills which are oversize in thickness are retained in the grooved surfaces such as surfaces 11 and 12 of rails 1 and 2, for example, and propelled to the lefthand side of the assembly and rejected. All

other pills drop through the slot between the respective V-shaped surfaces and onto the inclined runways such as the runway formed in part by rod 13. Pills which have athi-ckness less than the minimum which is allowable fall past the inclined runway, and through slots and 71 in the upper and lower sorting plates 15 and 18 and are rejected to the right-hand side of the assembly. Pills which have passed the sorting stage for thickness roll along the inclined runways and onto the respective upper sorting plates, such as plate 15. At this sorting stage pills are moved from right to left of FIG. 2 by the vibratory motion of the assembly passing over the holes in plate 15. Pills which are oversize in circumference are retained on the upper sorting plate 15 and are rejected to the left-hand side of the assembly. All other pills drop through the holes in the upper plate 15 constrained by members 30 and 31 and land on lower sorting plate 13. Pills which are too small in circumference fall through the holes in lower plate 18. The good pills are retainedon plate 18 and moved along to the left, by the vibrating action of the assemblyv and are propeiied off the end-of the plate to be collected in a customary manner. It is noted that the collection of good pills must be accomplished with care and done in such a way as to guard against accidentally mixing the good .pills with those rejected from the upper plates 15, 16, and 17, and from the V-shaped grooved surfaces such as for example surfaces 11 and 12.,

FIG. 4 discloses an alternative. arrangement of the. invention inwhich rails 52, 53, 54 through m are combined with a de-dusting screen.60 which is composed of a fine mesh screening material affixed to the bottom of the rails 52, 53, 54 through m. Pills are sorted as to thickness in this arrangement in the same manner as described hereinbefore for pills dropped onto rails 1, 2, 3 through n. After passing the thickness sorting stages, pills drop off the runways and onto screen 60. Due to the vibratory motion of the assembly and the downward in clination of the assembly, the sorted pills are propelled downwardly and periodically strike the screen 60 removing burrs and other protruding imperfections in a customary manner. It is noted that slotted openings such as slots 70 and 71 are required in screen 60 to allow pills which are undersize in thickness to clear the assembly.

It is to be understood that the hereinbefore described arrangements are illustrative of the application of the principles of this invention. In light of this teaching, it is apparent that numerous other arrangements may be derived by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A unitary vibratory sorting assembly for sorting articles according to thickness and circumference comprising a pair of elongate rails positioned substantially side by side in spaced apart relation,

each of said rails having an angled surface for forming an elongated groove between said rails for retaining ones of said articles having thicknesses greater than the separation between said rails,

said rails having substantially vertical facing side surfaces contiguous to said angled surfaces,

a rod partly embedded in each of said side surfaces along the length of said rails and forming a downwardly inclined runway between said side surfaces for catching and directing downwardly along said runway other ones of said articles falling between said rails and having thicknesses greater than the spacing between said rods,

and upper and lower sorting plate each of which includes a plurality of holes in a plane substantially perpendicular to a plane which is substantially parallel to and midway between said side surfaces,

said upper plate being situated above said lower plate for sorting oversize ones of said articles according to circumference, and

said lower plate is situated to catch remaining ones of said articles which fall through said holes in said upper plate for sorting said remaining ones of said articles which are undersize in circumference.

'2. The invention claimed in claim 1 further including a third elongate rail positioned substantially aside of one of said pairs of rails in spaced apart relation and having an angled surface, said one of said pair of rails having a second angle for forming a second elongated groove between said one of said pair of rails and said third rail,

said third rail also having a vertical side surface facing another side surface of said one of said pair of rails,

a third and fourth rod embedded respectively in said side surfaces of said third rail and said another side surface forming a second inclined runway,

and second upper sorting plate and second lower sorting plate situated under said second inclined runway for providing a duplicate sorting section adjacent to a sorting section including said pair of rails.

3. The invention recited in claim 1 further including substantially circular spacers between said rails for maintaining said rails in spaced apart relation, said rails having a first plurality of holes therethrough perpendicular to said side surfaces and a second plurality of holes spaced apart from said first plurality of holes and perpendicular thereto, a plurality of rods, said rails being maintained in spaced apart relation by ones of said rods through said first plurality of holes, and said upper and lower sorting plates being maintained in position below said rails by other ones of said rods through said second plurality of holes.

4. The invention claimed in claim 1 wherein said rails are substantially parallel to one another and said rails are separated forming a slotted opening therebetween which has a uniform width dimension for the length of said rails, and said side surfaces form side walls with said slotted Opening at the top of said side walls.

5. A combined sorter for sorting articles according to thickness and de-duster comprising at least two elongate rails positioned substantially side by side in spaced apart relation,

each of said rails having an angled surface for forming an elongated groove between said rails and with a slotted opening at the bottom of said groove for sorting articles oversize in thickness,

said rails having substantially vertical facing side surfaces contiguous with said angled surfaces and forming side walls below said slotted opening,

a rod embedded in each of said side surfaces partly along the length of said rail and forming an downwardly inclined runway for sorting articles undersize as to thickness, and

a screen positioned below said rails so that articles sorted according to thickness by said rail and said runway impinge on said mesh for removing protruding imperfections from said sorted articles.

6. The invention claimed in claim 5 wherein said rails are substantially parallel to each other and the width of said slotted opening is substantially constant over the length of said rails.

7. The invention claimed in claim 5 wherein said rails have a plurality of holes therethrough perpendicular to said side surfaces, and further including rods inserted through said holes for maintaining said rails in spaced apart relation.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 8/1903 MacDonald 209-99 5/1961 Engleson 209-83 US. Cl. X.R. 209780, 85, 99 

